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The Arts Paperartists next door 4 pianist, dancing with fate 6 unique theater-making 8 art without borders 10

a free publication of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven • newhavenarts.org January | February 2016

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staffCynthia Clair executive director

Debbie Hesse director of artistic services & programs

Nichole René communications manager

Lisa Russo advertising & events coordinator

Christine Maisano director of finance

Winter Marshall executive administrative assistant

David Brensilver editor, the arts paper

Amanda May Aruani design consultant

board of directorsEileen O’Donnell president

Rick Wies vice president

Daisy Abreu second vice president

Ken Spitzbard treasurer

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directorsLaura BarrSusan CahanRobert B. Dannies Jr.Todd JoklMark KaduboskiJocelyn MamintaJosh MamisRachel MeleElizabeth Meyer-GadonFrank MitchellJohn PancoastMark PotocsnyDavid SilverstoneDexter SingletonRichard S. Stahl, MD

honorary membersFrances T. “Bitsie” ClarkCheever Tyler

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Pianist, Dancing with Fate

Soloist Embraces Struggle4 Artists Next Door

José Oyola: An Artist Ascending 8 Art Without Borders

Mural Engages Students in India 10Unique Theater-Making

Troupe Operates as Collective6

january | february 2016

The Arts Paper

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In this issue of The Arts Paper, we ex-plore, to a degree, the intersection of art and health. In February, a British pianist named Nick van Bloss will perform Bee-thoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73 (“Emperor”) with the New Haven Sym-phony Orchestra. I hadn’t been familiar with van Bloss when in October I looked at the orchestra’s upcoming schedule and grew curious. Language on the organiza-tion’s website describes van Bloss as “the international sensation who has inspired audiences with his refined artistry and touched hearts through his battle with To-urette syndrome.”

After reading several news stories about van Bloss, I reached out to his manager, Peter Puskás, to ask whether van Bloss would be agreeable to discussing the

compelling fact that playing the piano qui-ets his body. With Puskás’ blessing, and through the NHSO, I arranged to interview van Bloss by telephone. The discussion we had was inspiring. Ultimately, it was a conversation about creative and personal authenticity. Van Bloss’ playing — his abil-ity and musicianship — is reason enough to be in Woolsey Hall when he performs with the NHSO in February. Beyond that, his story is as extraordinary. I’m looking forward to meeting van Bloss when he’s in town, and, having listened to his re-cordings, I’m looking forward to hearing him perform one of the most remarkable pieces in the repertoire. I encourage you to mark the concert date, February 25, on your calendars.

Another story in these pages explores

the connection between public art and public health by way of a study in Phil-adelphia led by Dr. Jack Tebes, a clinical community psychologist, research sci-entist, and professor in the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. That article, by Lucile Bruce, is packaged with another she wrote, about New Hav-en-based artist Kwadwo Adae’s recent trip to India, where he created a mural with and for students at a school in the state of Uttarakhan. A third piece that explores the purpose and power of public art is a column by former Arts Council staffer Stephen Grant, who’s been living in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Stephen tells us about the street art that serves in that city as social commentary.

With this month’s Artists Next Door feature, Hank Hoffman introduces us to local musician José Oyola, who included local community-based music groups in his recent CD-release concert here in New

Haven. This issue of The Arts Paper also brings us behind the scenes of the New Haven Theater Company, by way of a pro-file by Chris Arnott.

Already, we’re working on the March issue, in which we plan to explore the state of the recording industry, as seen through the eyes of former record-com-pany executives and ascendant industry professionals.

I hope you enjoy the stories presented herein and that you’ll remember to recycle this print publication once you’ve finished reading it.

Sincerely,

David Brensilver, editorThe Arts Paper

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José Oyola performs at the College Street Music Hall in Novem-ber. See Hank Hoff-man’s Artists Next Door feature on page 4. Photo by Lucy Gellman.

In the March issue of The Arts Paper, we’ll explore the state of the music business, with insights from longtime and ascendant industry insiders. Pic-tured here, former Sony executive and Elm City Music founder Michael Ca-plan, far right, shares his experiences during the Elm City Music Fest in No-vember as the Rock/Star Advocate’s Suzanne Paulinski, center, and Reverb Nation co-founder Lou Plaia look on. Photo by Mike Franzman.

Letter from the Editor

• january | february 2016 newhavenarts.org • 3


The Arts Paper

An Artist Ascendingartists next door

hank hoffman

ost New Haven-area bands playing their record-release shows plug in their amps and set up their drums on the stages

of Café Nine or the venues Steve Rodgers runs in Hamden — The Space, The Outer Space, The Ballroom. Fine venues all. But as José Oyola was wrapping up the recording of Hologram, his ambitious and hooky new José Oyola and the Astronauts record, he set his sights on renting the College Street Music Hall, formerly the Palace Theater.

Interviewing him at his New Haven digs in the ArLOW building in Westville, I asked why he chose that concert hall. It seemed awfully ambitious.

“That’s exactly the reason why,” Oyola said. “Everything we do, I want to make it special.”

Special it was. Almost 600 people at-tended the show in early November, a truly impressive turnout for a local band. Videos of Oyola’s set shared on Facebook depicted an exuberant musical celebration.

“It was cool because there was so much love in the building that night. It felt like 10,000 people were there,” recalled Oyola. “It was magical, great being on that stage.”

At College Street Music Hall, the James Hillhouse High School Band, Crossroads

Collective, Bethel A.M.E. Church Choir, and Alisa’s House of Salsa joined Oyola’s group on some songs. Oyola recruited the special guests both to give back to the community and to make for a more spectacular show.

He recalled what a thrill it was for him when he sang with a choir at the Bushnell Performing Arts Center in Hartford as a fifth grader. “People make you as much as you make yourself,” he said. Having the commu-nity-based music ensembles share the stage was a way of giving back for the opportuni-ties he had received.

It also fulfilled his desire that his live shows be “more than background music.” He is an admirer of Kanye West, The Flam-ing Lips, and The Arcade Fire, acts that turn their concerts into spectacles.

“I have this big stage to fill. Instead of moving around so much, why not fill it with people?” Oyola explained.

His interest in space is not confined to the square footage of the stage. Oyola has a fas-cination with outer space — there are two posters from the movie 2001: A Space Odys-sey on the wall of his apartment, one signed by actor Keir Dullea. Romance is one lyrical theme he returns to time and again; outer space is another. The latter theme can often serve as a metaphor for the former.

When he refers to space, he’s “not lit-erally talking about space. I make it more subjective, for the listener to paint their own picture,” he explained. “I try and think of something so vast and turn it into a human emotion that’s as vast but also still human.”

And in charting out his burgeoning music career, he is reaching for the stars. Or, as he told me, “I was never one for the 9-5 cubicle life.”

From the time he was a child, music has been important to him. “I come from a Puerto Rican family so music is a huge part of our everyday life,” he said. His grandfather Manuel “Vigo” Velez was a flamenco guitarist. The track “Lune” on Hologram

was written and recorded by Velez in 2009. Oyola included it on the record as a tribute to his grandfather, who passed away two years ago.

Although his family worshiped at a Pen-tecostal church, he was hired when he was 7 years old to sing with the choir of Christ Church Cathedral, an Episcopal church in Hartford. “I remember getting the check every month for seven dollars and going, ‘Yay!’”

Oyola grew up in Hartford, but from fifth grade through high school he was bused to school in the upper-middle-class suburb of Canton. “I got lucky — they had a good music program,” Oyola remembered. “Op-tions were there for me.

“As I’ve gotten older, what influences me to keep going is the freedom of it,” said Oyola. “You can express yourself.”

The recording of Hologram with an all-star group of local musicians — Yannis Panos on trumpet, Greg Perault on bass, Alex Saraceno on keyboards, Ceschi on guest vocals, and producer Will Drozdowski on drums, bass, and guitar — marks a major change for Oyola. His 2013 disc, Give, Give, Give. Take, Take, Take., was more of a solo singer-songwriter effort, Oyola singing and playing guitar with a garnish of percussion. With Hologram, Oyola enriched the sound with a full band.

“I hear the songs in my head in a certain way. But I try to give a little room for artist interpretation,” Oyola said. “With the song ‘Llevame,’ the bass line Greg [Perault] did on that was nowhere near what I had in my head.” Oyola envisioned a “super simple” bass riff, “but when I heard it, I said, ‘Yes!’”

Hologram is bigger than the previous re-cord, with more instrumentation. It mixes

all the influences that color Oyola’s love for music — indie rock, hip-hop, salsa. And al-most half the songs are sung in Spanish.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve dug into my Spanish roots more,” Oyola said. He told me he learned Spanish first as a child but feels more confident speaking English.

“I’m sad I didn’t do Spanish earlier. It makes my mom happy and adds another dimension to the band,” Oyola said. “The Spanish language is more fun because ev-erything rhymes.”

Oyola noted that while the song “Miedo” (“Fear”) has “a little Spanish flair” to the instrumentation, “it’s just a straightforward kind of rock song. But when you add Spanish lyrics to the song, it completely changes the landscape of the whole song.”

His Spanish roots also factored into assembling a big band to play Hologram live. “In Spanish music, if you listen to what each individual musician is doing, each has their little job to do,” Oyola said. “If you have nine people and it sounds good together, it sounds so good.”

Oyola recruited a different group of mu-sicians for the live shows from those who played on the record. Joining Oyola — who plays guitar and sings — the Astronauts crew is Carrie Martinelli (keyboards, syn-thesizer, sampler), Hannah Proch (backing vocals), Tony Molina (bass), Dylan McCo-nnell (flute), Brian Antonucci (guitar), Fred Kaeser (drums), Mike Marsters (trombone), Tim Kane (trumpet), and Marcos Torres (percussion).

“As a musician, the worst thing you can do is become complacent. If you’re going to do music, it’s all about taking a risk, be it financially or artistically,” Oyola said. n

josé oyola debuts new album in a big space

José Oyola. Photo by Daniel Shkolnik.

M

José Oyola and The Astronauts’ second album, Hologram, was released in November. Image courtesy of Mr. Oyola.

“As a musician, the worst thing you can do

is become complacent... it’s all about taking a risk, be it financially

or artistically.”

— José Oyola



The Arts Paper

Arts Council Presents Arts Awards


Left to right: Arts Awards recipients Steve Rodgers, Melinda Marquez, Willie Ruff, Joan Fitzsimmons (accepting an award on behalf of Paul Clabby), Susan Clinard, and Mary Lou Aleskie.

recipients honored by peers, creative communityphotos by judy sirota rosenthal(except where otherwise noted)

The Arts Council’s annual Arts Awards celebrated “Art Recharged.” Jazz musician and Yale School of Music faculty member Willie Ruff received the C. Newton Schenck III Award for Lifetime Achievement in and Contribution to the Arts. Other honorees recognized at a December 4 luncheon in-cluded former John Slade Ely House Center for Contemporary Art curator Paul Clabby, sculptor Susan Clinard, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, flamenco dancer and educator Melinda Marquez, and Steve Rodgers, founder of The Space and other local music venues.

We at the Arts Council are grateful to the following sponsors that made this event possible:

Cannelli Printing, the Community Foun-dation for Greater New Haven, Edgehill Realtors, Metropolitan Interactive, the United Illuminating Company/Southern Connecticut Gas, the University of New Haven/Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, WSHU, Yale-New Haven Hospital, and Yale University.

Arts Award recipient Steve Rodgers, center, with his wife, Jessie, left, and Mimsie Cole-man, director of the Hamden Department of Arts, Recreation, and Culture.

Eli Whitney Museum and Workshop Director Bill Brown, left, with Arts Award recipient Susan Clinard.

Due to an injury, Arts Award recipient Paul Clabby, former curator of the John Slade Ely House Center for Contemporary Art, was unable to attend the December 4 Arts Awards

ceremony. Photo by Harold Shapiro.

Willie Ruff, winner of the C. Newton Schenck III Award for Lifetime Achievement in and Contribution to the Arts.

Arts Award recipient Melinda Marquez, left, with Jackie Downing of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

International Festival of Arts & Ideas cofounder Anne Calabresi, left, with the festival’s executive director, Mary Lou Aleskie.

Doug Perry of the Triplepoint Trio performs during the Arts Awards luncheon.

Daisy Abreu, vice president of the Arts Council’s board of directors, emcees the Arts Awards.


The Arts Paper

A Pianist, Dancing with Fate

david brensilver with lucile bruce

hen New Haven Symphony Or-chestra Music Director William Boughton first heard pianist

Nick van Bloss’ 2011 recording of Beetho-ven’s “Diabelli” Variations, Op. 120, he was struck by van Bloss’ interpretations of the composer’s music. “It’s very powerful play-ing,” Boughton said, drawing a connection between the performance and the struggle and triumph with which we identify Bee-thoven. And while the composer’s tortured life is the stuff of legend, Boughton, at the time, was unfamiliar with the struggle van Bloss has endured. “I didn’t know his story until I’d actually engaged him,” Boughton explained.

Van Bloss will perform Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73 (“Emperor”), with the NHSO on a February 25 program at Woolsey Hall that also includes Brahms Symphony No. 2. The “Emperor” Concerto was on the program the night in April 2009 that van Bloss returned to the concert stage after nearly 15 years away from the piano. He’d retired from music in 1994, in his 20s. Van Bloss’ father was in the audi-ence that night, though he was deaf at that point, having long suffered from worsening tinnitus. “He said he could actually feel vibrations,” van Bloss said of his father. Beethoven, it’s worth pointing out, didn’t

perform the 1811 premiere of his “Emperor” Concerto, as deafness had silenced his per-forming career. That it was the “Emperor” Concerto that van Bloss performed in his return to the concert stage was fitting on several levels.

Having studied at the Royal College of Music in London and established himself as an ascendant figure in the classical-music industry, van Bloss quit playing for nearly 15 years. The strain of his profession, along with his nearly lifelong struggle with Tourette syndrome, had worn him down. “Putting the additional pressure of trying to prove myself,” van Bloss said, “I became exhausted on every level.”

Ironically, the syndrome actually gives him energy. Van Bloss began studying piano at age 11, a handful of years after the tics started — but a decade before the syn-drome was diagnosed. He discovered that his body got a break when he played, and that drew him closer to the instrument and gave him the ability to practice for hours and hours on end. That wasn’t exhausting, he said. It was refreshing — a break from himself, in a certain sense.

Dr. Christopher Pittenger, an associate professor at the Yale Department of Psychi-atry and in the Child Study Center, and the director of Yale OCD Research Clinic, said, “Tourette’s is at the most severe end of the continuum of tic disorders. We don’t think of it anymore as a separate disorder but rather as the end of a continuum. Tourette’s is defined by motor and vocal tics that started at a young age.” While many people who suffer from tic disorders “grow out of them,” Pittenger said, “More severe cases are less likely to resolve.”

Pittenger defined a tic as “a discreet movement that’s semi-voluntary in the same way that a sneeze is semi-voluntary. You can feel it coming, you can control it to an extent, but it becomes increasingly difficult to control and eventually you have to sneeze. When you do sneeze, you have little control over how you sneeze. We can see the movement itself, but the experience of it is much more complex than that.”

Pittenger explained the neurobiological basis of Tourette syndrome thus: “What we think happens, at a very qualitative level, is that the [cerebral] cortex takes informa-tion about the world, passes it to the basal ganglia, and the basal ganglia processes it,

finds patterns in it, identifies consequences — what happens next, which can involve choosing an action but it doesn’t have to — and feeds that back to the cortex. Those circuits are hyperactive in OCD and they appear to be hyper-reactive in Tourette’s. They tend to turn on when tics are hap-pening. They are clearly involved in habits. Habits are related to rituals. So you begin to develop an idea that maybe what’s going on in Tourette’s is that the circuitry, or small components of the circuitry involved in simple or complex actions, gets a little out of control and takes on a life of its own.

“Some of the basal ganglia are involved in actions. It’s disrupted in Parkinson’s dis-ease. But large portions of the basal ganglia talk to portions of the cortex that aren’t involved in moving the body. They are in-volved in thought, representing the outside world, and they feed back to parts that aren’t involved in moving the body. So you could have exactly the same neurobiologi-cal misfiring happening and it could lead to a tic on one circuitry, but in the neighboring circuitry it might lead to some of these other aspects. The basal ganglia are slightly smaller in people with Tourette syndrome. The cortical area is active when people are trying to suppress tics. It’s a circuit. The basal ganglia function as part of the circuit.”

As relates to van Bloss’ experience, Pit-tenger said, “Focused concentration can make tics go away,” adding, “Oliver Sacks writes a famous story” — “A Surgeon’s Life,” from An Anthropologist on Mars (1995) — “about a surgeon and amateur pilot with very bad Tourette’s. When he was perform-ing a surgery or flying his airplane, he was fine. But when he stepped away from those practices, his Tourette’s would come back. The fact that tics go away is relatively com-mon for many people with Tourette’s who are highly accomplished in a practice.”

In other words, it’s the focus on the music — not the romantic idea of the power of music — that quiets van Bloss’ body.

“When I play, the Tourette’s leaves me,” van Bloss said. While “it would be lovely to think about the power of music,” he said, “I don’t think it is that, unfortunately. I can only imagine that it’s the brain chemistry being satisfied. When I’m doing something 100 percent, the syndrome seems to stop. ... There are medications that stop the tics,”

he said, but “you lose that creative drive.”“Medications are moderately effective in

Tourette’s patients,” Pittenger said, “but the most effective are targeting the dopamine system and were developed for people with psychosis. Dopamine modulates the circuitry in the brain, so it’s not astonishing that the same medication would help calm things down. Unfortunately, those med-ications tend to have side effects. When you block a lot of dopamine, people lose motivation.

“We haven’t yet gotten to the point where we have been able to develop a whole new treatment,” Pittenger said, “but I think the pace is accelerating and I think we’ll get there.”

As for the clinical reasons van Bloss doesn’t experience the tics when he’s playing the piano, Pittenger said, “I don’t know very much about the neurobiology of music, but a lot of music is about pattern … and reinstitution of pattern. When taking a slightly broader view on Tourette’s, it’s easy to imagine a resonance with music. … The social component of Tourette’s, especially for adolescents, can also be huge. It can lead to a secondary source of suffering and emotion that we can imagine might fuel creativity and artistic expression.”

Before his return to the concert stage in 2009, van Bloss published a memoir, Busy Body: My Life with Tourette’s Syndrome (Fu-sion Press/Vision, 2006) and was featured in Mad but Glad, a 2007 documentary pro-duced for the BBC’s Horizon series. And yet his website doesn’t mention Tourette syn-drome. Van Bloss doesn’t want to be known — or defined — as the pianist with Tourette syndrome. He doesn’t want to be viewed by potential audiences as somehow defective or trotted out as some kind of “freak who can perform.”

“It’s very easy to become typecast,” he said, talking about the label he chooses not to wear. “I’d rather play to an empty room than a hall of people who wanted that.”

Still, Boughton believes that van Bloss’ story is an important one to share. “He is a role model for people who suffer,” Bough-ton said. “I think he has an important role to play.”

Whatever the role, it’s played on van Bloss’ terms, as every aspect of his career has been since he returned to the piano — which he described as “coming back to an

nick van bloss embraces struggle

W

Nick van Bloss. Photo courtesy of the NHSO.


Nick van Bloss in performance. Photo courtesy of NHSO.


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old friend” — and to the stage in 2009. The terms under which he operates are simple: He performs for people, playing the music he wants to play. “I suppose I no longer wanted to prove anything,” he said, explaining why he’s just not interested in playing certain repertoire. He’s also not interested in his peers’ in-terpretations of the repertoire. “I’m just not interested in what the other guys are doing,” he said, pointing out that it’s not out of arrogance that he says that, but because other pianists’ interpreta-tions are irrelevant. “This is me and this is how I do it,” he said. “At face value, it’s just about the music.”

Since he returned to the piano key-board in 2009, van Bloss has developed an excellent relationship with Nimbus Records, for which he’s recorded works by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Schumann. It was as a fellow Nimbus artist that Boughton became familiar with van Bloss’ recordings – beginning with the pianist’s recording of Beetho-ven’s “Diabelli” Variations.

If Beethoven’s music resonates more than other composers’ work with van Bloss, it’s because “it seems that his struggle was the greatest of all.” It’s not that Beethoven struggled that’s inspira-tional. It’s that his music is imbued with the creative yield of that struggle.

Just as Beethoven’s story is also one

of great triumph — his music being some of the most important and in-fluential that we’ve ever known — so, too, is van Bloss.’ Now in the second part of an ever-impressive career, the immediate future has him recording works by Beethoven and Schumann and performing concerts on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

“I just want to just keep going as I am,” he said. “It’s a slow but comfort-able development forward.” n

Nick van Bloss will perform with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra on Thursday, February 25, at Woolsey Hall. The orchestra will host a related panel discussion and performance on Friday, February 26, at Yale University’s Daven-port College. Panelists and performers will include Drs. Christopher Pittenger and James Leckman, both faculty mem-bers in the Yale School of Medicine’s Psychiatry Department, and composer Tobias Picker and baritone Jason Duika, both of whom suffer with Tourette syn-drome. Visit newhavensymphony.org for details and ticketing information. And visit nickvanbloss.com to learn more about the pianist.

Lucile Bruce is the communications officer at the Connecticut Mental Health Center.

William Boughton conducts the New Haven Symphony Orchestra. Photo (detail) by Joe Crawford.



The Arts Paper

Image: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Veduta della Piazza di Monte Cavallo (View of the Piazza di Monte Cavallo [now the Piazza del Quirinale with the Quirinal Palace]) (detail), from Vedute di Roma (Views of Rome), 1750. Etching. Yale University Art Gallery, The Arthur Ross Collection

YALE UNIVERSIT Y ART GALLERYFree and open to the public1111 Chapel Street, New Haven, Connecticut | 203.432.0600 | artgallery.yale.edu Free membership! Join today at artgallery.yale.edu/membership.

Meant toBe SharedSelections from the Arthur Ross Collection of European Prints at the Yale University Art Gallery

Through April 24, 2016

by chris arnott

New Haven has been known for a cen-tury as a true theater town. The Shubert Theater, which turned 100 last year, has presented the world-premiere productions of dozens of classic Broadway musicals, comedies, and dramas. Yale University boasts one of the oldest student drama so-cieties in the country, as well as one of the most acclaimed graduate drama programs. Two major regional theaters, the Yale Rep-ertory Theatre and the Long Wharf The-atre, opened in New Haven in the 1960s and are still going strong.

It is this environment that has formed and nurtured the New Haven Theater Com-pany, which is so appropriate for this the-ater-savvy community that it has persisted through several separate eras.

The troupe currently operates as a

Troupe Takes Unique Approach to Theater-Makingnew haven theater company operates as collective

Left to right: J. Kevin Smith, Erich Greene, Lauren Young, Rick Beebe, and Tim Smith in the New Haven Theater Company’s production of The Cult, which was written and directed by Drew Gray. Photo courtesy of NHTC.



The Arts Paper

collective, with open sharing of a vast stockpile of theater knowledge. Several members have day jobs working behind the scenes at regional theaters in Connecticut. Some have worked steadily in New York. Others are musicians who gig frequently in the area. The company even boasts a res-ident playwright, Drew Gray, whose plays The Magician and The Cult have had their premieres at NHTC.

The New Haven Theater Company was just as ambitious and impassioned when it was founded in 1997 by Matthew Martin and Danielle Duffee, who worked together at the BAR nightclub on Crown Street and were given permission to turn the club’s large back room into a theater-per-formance space in the hours before the dance crowds streamed in. Martin, now an established novelist and screenwriter, was NHTC’s first artistic director, choosing the projects and often starring in them. Duffee, known these days as co-owner of the 116 Crown restaurant, served as execu-tive director and producer. The first NHTC show featured Martin as Hamlet, with a classical ensemble assembled by Daniel Smith providing a live original music score. Smith later conceived the “golden age of radio” recreation WNHT Radio Hour for the company; it turned into a regular series that ran for more than a decade at Fairfield University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. Other NHTC shows in its first few years included John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger, Bobbi Randall’s three-actress biodrama Portrait of Edna St. Vincent Millay, Woody Allen’s one-acts God and Death, and a new stage version of the Alfred Hitchcock film Rope.

That first age of the New Haven Theater Company effectively ended when Martin moved to New York, staying active with various projects but ultimately becoming known as an improv troupe which per-formed weekly at BAR and later at Caffe Bottega at the corner of Chapel and Crown streets. Key members of that company were T. Paul Lowry (then an associate producer at the Long Wharf) and Matt Wrather. Lowry began to take NHTC back to its scripted-drama roots with a site-spe-cific production of David Mamet’s real-es-tate mystery Glengarry Glen Ross, staged in a bank building on Church Street. Lowry eventually moved to Chicago, but not be-fore directing an ambitious production of Paula Vogel’s large-cast epic A Civil War Christmas that drew talent from several

local theater compa-nies.

The enthusiasm for collaborative pro-duction of intelligent scripts by great Amer-ican writers did not wane. Five members of the cast of that 2009 rendition of Glengarry Glen Ross are still with NHTC today, while another founded one of the city’s other top small theaters, A Bro-ken Umbrella.

Peter Chenot, who has worked profession-ally in the marketing departments of Long Wharf Theatre and Westport Country Playhouse, has had leading roles in numer-ous NHTC productions over the past six years. He first discovered the company, he said “in the back of BAR, doing improv, just seeing who was in the community. I didn’t really know the people from before. After I got involved, the first big thing was Glengarry Glen Ross. That’s where this company galvanized. When T. Paul ended up moving, in the summer of 2010, he pretty much threw open his garage, put all his stuff — lights, props, whatever — in our cars and moved it to my garage. The collective was born then, reincorporated as this ensemble.” Others making the transi-tion from the improv days to the collective are Christian Shaboo, Erich Greene, and Jenny Schuck.

The troupe remained itinerant for several seasons. Chenot starred in Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio, staged in an actual radio station, Ultra Radio, on College Street. A slew of shows were done in an empty storefront on Court Street. For its past few seasons, NHTC has rented the spacious back room of The English Market Building at 839 Chapel St.

The NHTC collective’s working pro-cess doesn’t care much about titles and auditions — as Chenot puts it, “it’s about

creating the best theater we can.” Generally, projects are decided by consensus, with

each member of the company suggesting scripts. The proposals are winnowed down to six or eight real possibilities, which are then read aloud by members of the com-pany for their own edification and amuse-ment. The best prospects clearly announce themselves. That’s the sense George Kulp got when he suggested that the company consider the 1955 William Inge stranded-in-a-snowstorm-at-a-diner melodrama Bus Stop, which NHTC will present March 3-12 at 839 Chapel. Kulp knew the play from his student days at the American Academy for the Dramatic Arts in New York City; appear-ing in it landed him an agent and a long-run-ning role in the soap opera Ryan’s Hope. Recently, he said, “Bus Stop just popped back into my head. I had a vision of several [NHTC] cast members and how they’d fit in.” The Bus Stop cast includes Shaboo as the cowboy hero Bo Decker, Chenot as Sheriff Will Masters, Chenot’s wife, Megan Chenot (who played the Stage Manager in an NHTC production of Our Town), as the torch singer Cherie, Greene as Carl the bus driver, J. Kevin Smith as the professorial Dr. Wyman, and John Wat-son — whose on-and-off association with New Haven Theater Company goes right back to Hamlet in 1997 — as Bo’s sidekick, Virgil. Those players are all NHTC regulars, but the roles of diner-owner Grace and her young employee Elma, were uncast at press time, with Kulp saying he was considering performers “from outside the company.” Though the core group is solid, it’s common for NHTC to make new friends and alli-ances.

Beyond its useful script-vetting method and well-founded collective mentality, the New Haven Theater Company members

have many other things to meet about. The company gained nonprofit status a couple of years ago, with all the board meetings and paperwork that entails. NHTC produc-tions also come in all shapes and sizes, each with its own specific challenges. The current season began with the three-actor, spe-cial-effects-heavy show Smudge (a black, modern comedy about childbirth and mari-tal relationships), shifts to the eight charac-ters and realistic sets of Bus Stop for March and concludes with the withdrawn, four-ac-tor intellectual/emotional drama Proof by David Auburn, which will be staged May 5-14. NHTC also keeps busy doing readings of famous short stories for the “Listen Here” series sponsored by the New Haven Review at the Institute Library, and creating such intriguing projects as the “Worst Song Ever Contest” which Megan Chenot organized at The Space in Hamden last October, with nine music acts doing outrageous live per-formances of their candidates for the most egregious mistakes in songwriting history.

With day jobs, families, and other artistic callings to juggle, the New Haven Theater Company’s members are careful not to overload their schedules; a three-show sea-son plus a few extras is plenty. What’s never lacking is the motivation to do more. Kulp, who’s run several businesses and currently works at Boston Solar, spoke for many of his NHTC colleagues when he said, “I just can’t get away from this acting thing. Besides,” he added, “I think we put on some pretty good theater.” n

The New Haven Theater Company’s website address is newhaventheatercompany.com. Bus

Stop will be performed Thursday-Saturday, March 3-5 and 10-12, at NHTC Stage, inside

the English Market Building at 839 Chapel St., New Haven. Tickets cost $20.

Christian Shaboo, left, and Katelyn Marie Marshall in the New Haven Theater Company’s production of Rachel Axler’s Smudge, which was directed by Deena Nicol-Blifford. Photo courtesy of NHTC.

Left to right: Jim Lones, Steve Scarpa, J. Kevin Smith, Peter Chenot, and George Kulp in the New Haven Theater Company’s November 2014 production of Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer. Photo courtesy of NHTC.



The Arts Paper

Art Without Bordersby lucile bruce

t a small school in northern India amid the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains stands a proud and colorful mural.

Newly painted on an exterior wall against a bright yellow background, it depicts a group of animals living to-gether in harmony: leopard, porcupine, wild boar, water buffalo, deer, snake, bird, butterfly, monkey, and elephant (the only creature non-native to the local environment).

Who would guess that this joyful work of art, so rooted in its own place, was born halfway across the world in the state of Connecticut, where artist Kwadwo Adae first met his meditation teacher, Khushi Malhotra, at the Breath-ing Room yoga center on Chapel Street in downtown New Haven.

“I’ve been meditating for about three years, thanks to Breathing Room which is down the hall from Adae Fine Art Academy,” explained Adae, one of New Haven’s leading art teachers and most prolific muralists. “It was Khushi who in-troduced me to the school.”

That school is Anjanisain Paryavaran Vidyalaya, roughly translated “area envi-ronment school” and abbreviated “APV.” It is nondenominational and serves students in kindergarten through eighth grade. It’s located in the district of Tehri Garhwal in the Garhwal Himalayan re-gion in the state of Uttarakhan, India. At an altitude of 6,500 feet above sea level, the region is far lower than much of the Himalayas and with a relatively temper-ate climate and beautiful mountainous lands, rich with forests and rivers.

“One day I asked Khushi if they need art teachers at the school. Do they want a mural?” Adae recalled. “She said, ‘Just come.’”

With the assistance of an eco-tourism organization called Simply Himalaya that leads meditation retreats near the school, Adae would be able to travel, receive lodging, participate in meditation classes, and volunteer his time as an art teacher at APV.

First, he needed money.Trip costs included airfare, fees, and

art supplies. So for several days, he stayed up late in his studio creating a stop-motion animation video for his on-line fundraising campaign. He used Kick-starter, a funding platform specializing in arts projects. His video — which features his original paintings of himself, a plane, the school children, the mountains, and more — tells the story of the trip he would take if funded. He raised $7,615, about one quarter of that from people he’d never met. Donors responded to the artistry of the video and supported his international cause. To thank them, he is now creating gifts, converting scenes from the animation video into prints, and sharing photographs of the mural itself.

Money in hand, he made his reser-vations. He packed his suitcase with

art supplies, all purchased locally from Artist and Craftsman Supply in New Haven: watercolors and paper for teach-ing classes, acrylics for the mural itself, and plenty of brushes. After many hours of international travel in various vehicles over several terrains, he arrived at APV.

“The students start their day with si-lent meditation, then they all sing songs crafted by Anand Ji, the spiritual leader of the school,” he ex-plained. Students come from mountain villages throughout the region; the school runs a small orphanage, as well, and children living in the orphanage attend the school.

“We did meditation and yoga every day,” Adae recalled. He even participated in the 4 a.m. “starlight medita-tion” class for teachers, led daily by Anand Ji.

As an art teacher, he found that while stu-dents had taken some art classes — creating masks, for example, and being “extremely creative with what they had” — they didn’t have many supplies to work with.

Once they had conceptualized the mural together, Adae sketched it on the wall and each classroom took responsi-bility for the painting of one animal. “All of the classes participated,” said Adae,

“and all the teachers got involved. There was no shortage of people who wanted to work.”

The children taught him the Hindi name for each animal and teachers translated for him throughout the pro-cess. Adae, who is African American, said the kids were fascinated by his hair and touched it frequently. He spent eight days at APV, immersing himself

in the culture of the school and its people, building new friend-ships, and focusing his creative energy on completing the mural before his return flight to the United States.

That flight hap-pened two days ear-lier than expected. A taxi strike loomed in the area, threatening to cut him off from the airport. Hurriedly, Adae worked with students to complete the mural. He in-structed the teachers on which exterior var-nish to purchase as a sealant the next time they traveled to Delhi. Then he said goodbye,

promising to return to do touch-ups.Since finishing project, Adae said he’s

fielded a few inquiries about doing mu-rals in other places: Guatemala; an or-phanage in Armenia; and Juárez, Mexico, “an area that’s seen a lot of violence re-

cently,” he noted. “I believe international public art can help heal communities that are in pain.”

For future international projects, he said he’ll keep his focus on schools and working with underserved populations of children.

“My family is from Ghana,” he said, smiling, “and there’s a school in the village where my parents grew up that could use a mural.”

But for now, he’s back in New Haven, teaching painting and drawing to people of all ages at the Adae Fine Art Acad-emy, which he founded and directs. Re-gardless of their levels of experience, his students are entirely self-directed; they choose their subjects and the media they wish to use. Adae also runs a mobile art studio, bringing art classes to a variety of settings including assisted-living cen-ters, West Haven Mental Health Clinic, and The Foote School. He said that when students independently choose what to paint or draw — rather than being given assignments — it translates into other areas of their lives by helping them de-velop autonomy and learn about them-selves.

Right now, he’s the only teacher at the Adae Fine Art Academy and things are busy, but he noted proudly, “I’m close to being able to hire some of my own stu-dents.”

As for his students in India, he remem-bers them with great fondness. “The ex-perience had such an impact on me and on the students,” he said. “I plan to keep this international art dialogue moving.” n

Kwadwo Adae with students from the Anjanisain Paryavaran Vidyalaya, in front of his mural in progress. Photo submitted.

A

“I believe

international

public art can

help heal

communities

that are in

pain.” — Kwadwo Adae



The Arts Paper

by lucile bruce

ore than five years ago, Dr. Jack Tebes and his colleagues em-barked upon a scientific journey

to try to answer to the question: “Can public art promote public health?” And if so, how?

Tebes, a clinical community psychologist and research scientist, is a professor in the Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. He’s also my colleague at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, where he serves as director of psychology and where I first learned about his effort to evaluate Porch Light, a unique partnership between the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program and the Philadelphia Depart-ment of Behavioral Health & Intellectual disAbility Services (DBHIDS).

Since 2007, those two entities have been collaborating to give people receiving behavioral-health services the opportunity to create public art. They call the program “Porch Light;” a “Porch Light mural” is a mural created by the Mural Arts Program in partnership with the behavioral health system.

Philadelphia is awash in public art, and the Mural Arts Program is the reason why. What began in the 1980s as a municipal effort to redirect the artistic energy of graf-fiti writers has evolved into a large-scale, nationally recognized public-private part-nership that engages thousands of people each year in designing and painting public art. Today, Mural Arts has a stunning col-lection of more than 3,000 murals, each created collaboratively by people in the community working with professional art-ists. Visit any neighborhood in Philadelphia and as you traverse its streets and avenues, sidewalks, lots, bridges, parks, and high-ways, you’re virtually guaranteed to see at least one mural.

Mural Arts programs include Art Ed-ucation for youth; Restorative Justice for

inmates, individuals reentering society, and victims of violence; and, through Porch Light, people in recovery from mental health and addictions problems.

Porch Light had finished several murals when DBHIDS Commissioner Dr. Arthur Evans decided it was time to evaluate the impact of the highly successful program. He turned to Tebes.

Along with their colleagues at Mural Arts, they set out to understand whether or not mural creation has an impact on health at two levels: (a) public health at the com-munity level, in distressed neighborhoods; and (b) individual health of people who

have experienced mental health and/or ad-dictions problems.

“We picked zip codes with the highest levels of poverty and multiple challenges, including crime and perhaps trauma,” Tebes said, delineating how they went about designing the study.

Central to the researchers’ theory of change (as noted in the final evaluation report) is the assumption that “neighbor-hoods are a social determinant of health that can increase or reduce risk for mental health or substance abuse problems.” Researchers theorized that although they didn’t have enough time to study the long-term public-health benefits of creating public art in neighborhoods, they could study the impact murals have in the short term on factors known to contribute to public health: the collective efficacy of people in the neighborhood, the neighbor-hood’s aesthetic quality, and the stigma related to behavioral health.

And, Tebes explained, by considering the neighborhood context in which people live, the Porch Light study proposed to shift the behavioral health paradigm itself by “mov-ing from a traditional behavioral health system to a recovery and resilience system, where we take into account a person’s whole life, not just the treatment side, and we embrace a public health model.”

The researches quickly realized that the complex, messy process of creating art resists being studied through a “rigorous scientific design” with a lot of controls in

place. So they used a community-based participatory research model instead, part-nering with artists, agencies, funders, and people in recovery to identify the goals of the project, the measures used, and the timeframe for collecting, analyzing, and sharing data.

“You lose some scientific rigor when you do a research project that way,” Tebes explained, “but you gain a project that is much closer in scope to the actual work you’re studying. We felt that because this hadn’t been done before as rigorously as we were going to attempt to do it, we should err on the side of being closer to what we were studying.”

Tebes and his team, including Dr. Saman-tha Matlin and others, looked closely at every aspect of the mural-creation process, focusing on six Porch Light murals. Five were assessed for community impact and five for individual impact.

They collected data in many ways. They documented the methodologies and ap-proaches of individual artists. They con-ducted at least two in-depth qualitative interviews with 122 people who partici-pated in the mural-making process. They interviewed people in the “control group” who were not involved in mural making. Re-search assistants walked the blocks before, during, and after murals were created to observe street-level changes in the physical environment as well as people’s behavior in

It Has to be From Here, Forgotten But Unshaken, a mural at 3263 N. Front St., in Philadelphia, completed during the second year of the Porch Light initiative. Copyright 2012 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program/Betsy Casañas, APM Health Clinic. Photo by Steve Weinik.

Public Art, Public Health

M

evaluating the porch light program

A Porch Light mural being installed on August 23, 2013. Photo by Steve Weinik. continued on page 12



The Arts Paper

Families ~ Events ~ Community

Photography

Judy Sirota Rosenthal [email protected]

203-281-5854

may humanity find compassion and wisdom in a troubled world

public spaces. They also completed 1,325 “person-on-the-street” interviews with residents in the six neighborhood sites where murals were created.

Five years later, the Porch Light Evalua-tion Project is complete. So, does public art promote public health?

The answer: Yes, but. Important ques-tions and ambiguities remain as well as recommendations for future research. I urge you to go online and read the entire Porch Light Program Final Evaluation Report.

In sum, the report concludes that “in-creases in residents’ perceptions of collec-tive efficacy and neighborhood aesthetic quality in the years following installation of a public mural provide evidence of the public health impact of murals.” In addi-tion, murals focused on behavioral-health themes and created in collaboration with behavioral health consumers and stake-holders helped to reduce stigma.

However, “the evidence in support of an individual health impact of murals is more mixed … Individual results are clearly promising but inconclusive, and await fu-ture research,” the report indicates.

“Perhaps the singular power of murals,” the report concludes, “is to engage a com-munity, defined geographically or through a common experience, to come together to find meaning and shared purpose, includ-ing action for social change.”

For Tebes, the opportunity to work with artists and observe their extraordinary gifts up close was a privilege. As a young man, he was connected to the avant-garde art scene in Buffalo, New York; he recalls attending openings at Hallwalls Contem-porary Art Center, the experimental gallery founded by a group of young artists includ-ing Robert Longo and Cindy Sherman.

“I was always amazed at how brilliant artists were,” he explained, noting that while artists aren’t always able to describe what they do in words, this in no way di-minishes their power. “Seeing what they could do — it took my breath away.”

In Philadelphia, he said, “I walked into this project with a total respect for artists.”

Observing master muralists at work with Porch Light, he said, “I was impressed with how they could work collaboratively with

ordinary people who don’t do art and don’t think of themselves as artists. The artists just wanted to share art. Every day I was involved, I witnessed a great moment.”

Tebes hopes the Porch Light evaluation project will spark interest in further rig-orous arts research. Most of all, he hopes the work inspires people in communities outside of Philadelphia to come together to create murals.

“I would love to see something like this happen in New Haven,” he said.

Read the complete Porch Light Program Final Evaluation Report at

consultationcenter.yale.edu/Porch_Light_Program_Final_Evaluation_Report_Yale_June_2015_218966_1095_5.pdf

Download Painting a Health City: The Porch Light Program Replication Manual at

muralarts.org/programs/porch-light

Lucile Bruce is the communications officer at the Connecticut Mental Health Center.

Public Artcontinued from page 11

“Painting a Healthy City” day, April 27, 2012, in Philadelphia. Photo by Steven Weinik.

A Porch Light mural located at 2701 North Broad St., in Philadelphia, punctuates the city’s skyline. Copyright 2013 City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program/James Burns. Photo by Steven Weinik.


CALENDAR

Maurice Duruflé: The Complete Organ WorksEric Wm. Suter, organsunday, january 31 · 7:30 pmWoolsey Hall · 500 College St., New HavenGreat Organ Music at Yale

Eliza Griswold, poet and journalistAuthor of The Tenth Parallel, I Am the Beggar of the World and morethursday, february 4 · 5:30 pmWhitney Humanities Center · 53 Wall St., New HavenYale Literature & Spirituality Series; Poynter Fellow in Journalism

Both events are free; no tickets required. ism.yale.edu

yale institute of sacred music presents


The Arts Paper

Classes & Workshops ACES Educational Center for the Arts 55 Audubon St., New Haven. 203-777-5451. aces.org/eca.Acting Classes for Kids and Teens. Pantomime, im-provisation, theater games, movement, and the staging of a one-act play. Age groupings: 7-11 and 12-15 years. Performance at end of session. Call Ingrid Schaeffer at 203-795-9011 or email [email protected] for more information. Saturday classes ongoing through May 7. Please call for specific class fees. 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Guilford Art Center 411 Church St., Guilford. 203-453-5947. guilfordartcenter.org.Winter 2016 Registration Open. The semester runs January 11-March 4. Classes and workshops are available for children and adults in blacksmithing, ceramics, drawing, fiber, glass, metals, painting, pho-tography, sculpture, weaving, and more.

Southern Connecticut State University 501 Cres-cent St., New Haven. 203-874-0801.

elmshakespeare.org.College Audition Masterclass. The college audition process can be intimidating, but Elm Shakespeare Company instructor and Southern Connecticut State University associate professor Kaia Monroe Rarick can help give you an edge. In these workshops, you’ll learn the dos and don’ts of college auditions, includ-ing presentation, resume and headshot critique, and monologue selection and critique. For high school seniors/recent graduates. Saturdays, January 9 & 16. $150 for two, two-hour sessions. 10 a.m.-12 p.m.

Exhibitions Artspace 50 Orange St., New Haven. 203-772-2709. artspacenh.org.hello world! An exhibition that explores how a queer identity can function as a clear projection of self while simultaneously resisting and reframing normative definitions of identity. The complex, humorous, and deeply personal approaches each artist brings to the exhibition offers a visual syntax

of queer experiences. On view through March 2. Open Wednesday & Thursday, 12-6 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 12-8 p.m. Free.Project. Fold. Collapse. This new exhibition in our proj-ect room features work by artist Jason Fiering. On view through March 2. Open Wednesdays & Thurs-days, 12-6 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 12-8 p.m. Free.

Connecticut Office of the Arts 1 Constitution Plaza, Hartford. 203-772-2709. artspacenh.org.By and by ... at home with Sam and Livy Artspace cu-rators Sarah Fritchey and Rashmi Talpade remake the rules of a game played by the American author Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, in his Hartford home, bringing it into the white-cube setting. Presented at The Gallery at Constitution Plaza in the Connecticut Office of the Arts. On view through March 4. Free.

DaSilva Gallery 897-899 Whalley Ave., New Haven. 203-387-2539. dasilva-gallery.com.Journeys. Oil on canvas by Barry Zaret. On view Janu-ary 7-30. Open Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Artist reception: Thursday, January 7, 5:30-8 p.m. Free.Susan Clinard. The act of making art is solitary and personal; I’m at my best working alone in my studio. However, alongside this I recognize the undeniable importance of sharing my work with the outside world. It is, after all, the public response which helps define the work’s meaning and place. Celebrate and share with me! On view February 5-March 1. Artist reception: Friday February 5, 6-8 p.m. Open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free.

Hamden Art League Miller Library Senior Center, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-494-2316. hamdenartleague.com.Annual Silverbells Exhibition and Sale. A wide array of original art by league members will be on display, including paintings in oils, watercolors, and acrylics, as well as mixed media, graphics, and pastels. Many pieces available for purchase. On view through January 5. Viewing hours: Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. If library is closed due to inclement weather, reception will be cancelled and possibly rescheduled.

Works by Carmen Lund, including this detail of her Collage No. 17 (mixed media) are featured in Serendipity: Marks of Abstraction, an exhibit curated by Elinor Slomba that also includes paintings by Annie Sailer and drawings by Giada Crispiels. Presented by Arts Interstices, Serendipity: Marks of Abstraction is on view through January 10 at The Grove in New Haven. Image (detail) courtesy of Ms. Slomba.



The Arts Paper

Kehler Liddell Gallery 873 Whalley Ave, New Haven, CT. 203-389-9555. www.kehlerliddell.comNew Year/New Work. A member group exhibition featuring 20 of Connecticut’s highest-achieving mid-career and emerging artists in a full range of media, from painting, printmaking, and works on paper to photography and sculpture. On view Jan-uary 14-February 14. Opening reception: January 24, 3-6 p.m. Open Thursday & Friday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.Couples. On the cusp of Valentine’s Day, New Ha-ven’s Kehler Liddell Gallery presents the evocative work of artist Kathleen Zimmerman, whose draw-ings, prints, and sculpture will be on display Jan-uary 14-February 14. Opening reception: January 24, 3-6 p.m. includes performance by award-win-ning actor Casey McDougal (SAG-AFTRA). Open Thursday & Friday, 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.

New Haven Museum 114 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-562-4183. newhavenmuseum.org.The Nation’s Greatest Hits: 100 Years of New Ha-ven’s Shubert Theatre. The New Haven Museum spotlights one of the Elm City’s most celebrated cultural institutions. On view through February 27. Dates, hours, and admission fees vary; see website.

Spectrum Gallery and Store 61 Main St., Center-brook. 860-767-0742. spectrumartgallery.org.Let There Be Light Holiday Show. Featuring work by fine artists, sculptors, photographers, and mixed-media artists who use reflective surfaces, glass, mirrors, or depict light in unique ways. Included in the Artisan’s Store is an assortment

of pottery, glassware, and ceramics with serving ware, home décor, jewelry, fiber art, and fine wood gift items. Visit online for art classes and events. On view through January 10. Open Wednes-day-Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Free.

The Grove, 760 Chapel Street, New Haven. 203-812-9093. grovenewhaven.com/Serendipity: Marks of Abstraction Artist Carmen Lund, MFA, has devoted her creative lifetime to close observation of nature, from which she creates abstract paintings and collages. The various levels of abstraction inspire openness to possibility. Paintings by Annie Sailer and draw-ings by Giada Crispiels further explore the theme of abstraction from nature. Curated by Elinor Slomba and presented by Arts Interstices. On view through January 10. Open during business hours Monday-Friday (8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.) and on weekends by appointment. Free and open to the public.

Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History 170 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-432-5050. peabody.yale.edu.Samurai and the Culture of Japan’s Great Peace. This exhibition brings to life the many-layered history of the samurai and those they ruled — a history full of drama and paradox. In the 1500s, samurai nearly destroyed the Japanese state in their inces-sant wars. But after 1615, they presided over 250 years of peace, the longest that any large society has ever known. On view through January 3. Open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 12-5 p.m. $5-$9. The Shubert Theatre presents the award-winning musical Once January 28-31. Pictured here is the Melbourne Theatre

Company production starring Tom Parsons, left, and Madeleine Jones. Photo (detail) by Jeff Busby.


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The Arts Paper

FilmJanuary

28 Thursday Film Series: Investigation of a Flame 7 p.m. Pre-sented by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music at the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St., New Haven. 203-432-3220. ism.yale.edu.

Kids & FamiliesMusical Folk First Presbyterian Church, 704 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-691-9759. MusicalFolk.com.

Music Together Classes for Babies and Toddlers. A fun, creative music and movement program for babies and those as old as 5, and the ones who love them. Come sing, dance, and play instruments in an informal setting. Classes offered January 11-March 18 (morning, afternoon, and weekend classes available) at various locations in New Haven, Woodbridge, Hamden, East Haven, and Cheshire. Demonstration classes are free. 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Ten-week semester is $216 and includes a CD and book. Each semester features a new collection of music.

Shubert Theatre 247 College St. New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com.The Berenstain Bears Live! Adapted from the classic children’s book series, this family musical brings

everyone’s favorite bear family to life in a thrilling theatrical experience that kids and their parents will enjoy. Saturday, Febru-ary 27, 11 a.m. & 3 p.m. $19-$29.

Thornton Wilder Hall 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-287-2546. hamdenartscom-mission.org.The Firebird Inspired by the Russian folktale, the impossible is pos-sible as the mythical firebird comes to life and Ivan and Princess Yelena team up to break the enchantment placed over the king-dom. A production by The Puppet People.

Saturday, January 23, 1 p.m. Admission is $2 for chil-dren; $3 for adults.

Music January

16 Saturday Fiesta del Norte An exciting, versatile Mariachi band that comes in traditional “charro” costumes and plays music of Mexico and Latin America. Performed on authentic instruments with beautiful singing throughout. Please note that this is a third Saturday concert this month only. 8-10:30 p.m. $12 for members; $15 for non-members; $5 for children 12 years and younger. Branford Folk Music Society, First Congregational Church of Branford, 1009 Main St., Branford. 203-488-7715. folknotes.org/branfordfolk.

17 Sunday Prometheus Quintet The ensemble returns to Bethesda for a concert of chamber music. The concert is a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. Reception to follow. Bring a friend! J4 p.m. Free-will offering. Bethesda Music Series, Bethesda Lutheran Church, 450 Whitney Ave., New Haven. 203-787-2346. bethesdanewhaven.org.

24 Sunday St. Luke’s Steel Band: The Joyous Sounds of Steel The high-energy award-winning ensemble’s repertoire includes calypso, reggae, classical, popular, and island folk music. 2 p.m. $7 general admission, $5 for senior citizens, students, and children 12 and younger. Hamden Arts Commis-sion, Thornton Wilder Hall, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-287-2546. hamdenartscommission.org.

31 Sunday Great Organ Music at Yale: Erik William Suter Complete organ works of Maurice Duruflé. 7:30 p.m. Free. Presented by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music at Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. 203-432-5062. ism.yale.edu.

February

6 Saturday Tenet: “The Sounds of Time: Music of the Ars Subtilior” 7 p.m. Free and open to the general public. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Marquand Chapel, 409 Prospect St., New Haven. 203-432-3220. ism.yale.edu.

11 Thursday Yale Voxtet The ensemble performs a selection of pieces for its winter concert. 7:30 p.m. Free and open to the general public. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Marquand Chapel, 409 Prospect St., New Haven. 203-432-3220. ism.yale.edu. 13 Saturday Larry Unger & Eden MacAdam-Somer This dynamic duo returns to Branford Folk to present a thrilling mu-sical experience in genres that span many continents. Featuring gypsy, Celtic, klezmer, jazz, blues, and more on fiddle, guitar, banjo, and vocals. Upbeat, swinging, and very danceable! 8-10:30 p.m. $12 members, $15 non-members, $5 children 12 years and younger. Bran-ford Folk Music Society, First Congregational Church of Branford, 1009 Main St., Branford. 203-488-7715. folknotes.org/branfordfolk. 21 Sunday Schola Cantorum: Passio The Yale Schola Cantorum performs Arvo Pärt’s Passio, conducted by David Hill. 4 p.m. Free and open to the general public. Presented by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music at Christ Church, 84 Broadway, New Haven. 203-432-3220. ism.yale.edu.

Choreographer Kota Yamazaki and his company, Fluid Hug-Hug, perform the New England premiere of OQ, a work inspired by Japanese renga, a form of collaboratively composed poetry, on February 12 at the Wesleyan University Center for the Arts. Image courtesy of Wesleyan CFA.



The Arts Paper

NEW eThe Arts Paper Bulletin Board Listings Policies and Rates, effective with the December 2015 issue.

Call for Artists and Volunteer listings are FREE and must be art related.

Services and Space Listings:Listings for services or space must be arts related.Listings are limited to 350 characters (this includes spaces). All listings must be paid in advance for publication.

RATESOrganizations/BusinessesMember organizations and businesses are entitled to three complimentary classified list-ings in The Arts Paper per year. Listings are also posted on the Arts Council’s website, newhavenarts.org.Rates: $15 per listing, three listings for $30. Listings must be paid for in advance.

ArtistsIndividual artist members are entitled to one complimentary classified listing per year.Rates: $10 per listing, three listings for $25. Listings must be paid for in advance.

Non-membersRates: $20 per listing, three listings for $50. Listings must be paid for in advance.

Please note that the size limita-tion of listings is 350 characters with spaces. The Arts Council reserves the right to edit your listing for length or content. The Arts Council provides these list-ings as a service to the commu-nity and is not responsible for the content or deadlines. Call for Artists/Volunteers are free and open to all arts organizations, educational institutions, and creative businesses.

To submit a Bulletin Board listing please email your listing to: [email protected]

The deadline for advertisements and calendar listings for the March 2015 edition of The Arts Paper is: Monday, January 25, at 5 p.m. Future deadlines are as follows:

April 2016: Monday, February 29, 5 p.m.

May 2016: Monday, March 28, 5 p.m.

June 2016: Monday, April 25, 5 p.m.

July/August 2016: Tuesday, May 31, 5 p.m.

Calendar listings are for Arts Council members only and should be sub-mitted online at newhavenarts.org. Arts Council members can request a username and password by sending an e-mail to communications@ newhavenarts.org. The Arts Council’s online calendar includes listings for programs and events taking place within 12 months of the current date. Listings submitted by the calendar deadline are included on a monthly basis in The Arts Paper.

The Arts Paper

advertising

and calendar

deadlines:

25 Thursday Beethoven and Brahms This New Haven Sym-phony Orchestra program includes Brahms’ Second Symphony and Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto featuring pianist Nick van Bloss, the international sensation who has inspired audiences with his re-fined artistry and touched hearts through his battle with Tourette syndrome. KidTix and Blue Star Tick-ets are available and are sponsored by Frontier. 7:30 p.m. $15-$74. $10 student tickets with ID. Woolsey Hall, 500 College St., New Haven. 203-865-0831. NewHavenSymphony.org. 26 Friday Music Haven Our resident musicians and special guest pianist Andrius Zlabys perform the music of Eugéne Ysaÿe, Dimitri Shostakovich, and Bohuslav Martinu. Tickets available at musichavenct.org/concerts. 7:30 p.m. Admission: $20; $10 students, seniors, and University of New Haven members. Unitarian Society of New Haven, 700 Hartford Turn-pike, Hamden. 203-745-9030. musichavenct.org.

Special EventsPlein Air Workshop with New Haven Artist Frank Bruckmann Workshop takes place on Monhegan, Island, Maine, June 4-10. Join Frank in painting one of the most beautiful and painted islands in the world. Frank will give instruction on how to create a composition, block in a painting, and then refine your piece using a combination of value, color and drawing. Oils, acrylics, pastels, and watercolor. A quick demonstration on the first day will get every-one going, and then the whole week will be spent painting one beautiful place after another. Get in touch for more information, at [email protected], or visit fbruckmann.com, for the week’s schedule which includes ample painting instruction, critiques with cocktails, and guided or free hikes all over this maritime gem. Tuition for workshop is $500, payable in two parts. Accommo-dations at The Island Inn are the responsibility of the participant.

January

Artistry: American Craft Shopping for the Holidays This sale features one-of-a-kind, hand-made crafts by more than 250 artists from across America. Items include ceramics, glass, jewelry, fiber, ornaments, accessories, toys specialty foods, and more. Open daily through January 3. Mon-day-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sunday, 12-5 p.m. Free. 411 Church St., Guilford. 203-453-5947. guilfordartcenter.org.

12 Tuesday January Meeting and Artist Demonstration Local artist Jeanne Ciravolo will be the presenter. Drawing from a live model, she will demonstrate gesture drawing, the first step to creating a powerful, en-ergetic artwork, and will discuss the use of gesture as the foundation for artwork of any subject matter and a variety of media. Jeanne is an award winning figurative and pastel portrait artist. Coffee and con-versation at 7 p.m., brief business meeting at 7:15 p.m., followed by the artist’s demonstration at 7:30 p.m. If library is closed due to inclement weather, meeting will be cancelled. Free and open to the pub-lic. Hamden Art League, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Ham-den. 203-494-2316. hamdenartleague.com.

February 4 Thursday Literature and Spirituality Series: Eliza Griswold A lecture by the author and journalist. 5:30 p.m. Free and open to the general public. Yale Institute of Sacred Music, 53 Wall St., New Haven. 203-432-3220. ism.yale.edu.

The Second City The legendary improv comedy company comes to the Shubert Theatre in Hooking Up with The Second City, a must-see new show about relationships featuring hilarious sketches and songs that make mirth out of all the crazy things we do for love. 8 p.m. $26-$51. Shubert Theatre, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com. 9 Tuesday February Meeting and Artist Demonstration Steve Plaziak will give a presentation called “Flu-idity and Spontaneity of the Watercolor Medium.” The Guilford-based artist will show how, using charcoal, ink or watercolor, he first draws an experimental, impulsive sketch trying to capture his initial inspiration. Working from his sketch, he develops a larger watercolor, using a variety of techniques for maximum impact. Refreshment and conversation at 7 p.m.; brief business meeting at 7:15 p.m.; artist’s demonstration at 7:30 p.m. If the library is closed due to inclement weather, the meeting will be cancelled. Free and open to the public. Hamden Art League, 2901 Dixwell Ave., Hamden. 203-494-2316. hamdenartleague.com.

TheaterOnce This play tells the enchanting tale of a Dub-lin street musician who’s about to give up on his dream when a beautiful young woman takes a sudden interest in his haunting love songs. It’s an unforgettable story about going for your dreams, not living in fear, and the power of music to con-nect all of us. January 28-31. Thursday at 7:30 p.m.; Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m. & 6:30 p.m. Ticket price varies by seat location. Shubert Theatre, 247 College St., New Haven. 203-562-5666. shubert.com. Zombie Prom! Atomic Edition Pantochino Teen Theatre presents the hit off-Broadway musical by Dana P. Rowe and John Dempsey. The “girl-meets-ghoul” story is set in the atomic 1950s. This fresh, fun blast from the past is performed by area teen actors. At the Milford Fine Arts Council’s Center for the Arts. February 27 & 28. Saturday at 5:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. All tickets $10. Milford Fine Arts Council, 40 Railroad Ave. South, Milford. 203-937-6206. pantochino.com.

Artist Jeanne Ciravolo will give a presentation on gesture drawing during the Hamden Art League’s January 12 meeting and artist demonstration. Pictured here is Ciravolo’s painting Caryatids I. Image courtesy of the Hamden Art League.



The Arts Paper

Call For Artist Members The Kehler Liddell Gallery in New Haven is seeking applications from new prospective members. Visit kehlerliddell.com/membership for more information. Artists The Monotype Guild of New England’s Fourth National Juried Exhibition. Deadline for entry is February 1. Show dates: April 6–May 7. Lo-cation: Attleboro Arts Museum, Attleboro, Massa-chusetts. Juror: Andrew Stevens, curator of prints, Chazen Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. Cash Prizes worth more than $1,800. For prospectus and easy online submission, visit mgne.org. Artists For Arts Center Killingworth’s 2015–2016 Spectrum Gallery exhibits, including the Gallery Show. Seeking fine artists and artisans in all media. For artist submission, visit spectrumartgallery.org or email [email protected]. Spec-trum Gallery and Store, 61 Main St., Centerbrook. Artists The Gallery Review Committee of The New Alliance Gallery at Gateway Community College is looking for artists to submit their resumes and images for possible exhibition in the 2016 calendar year. Please send your resume and cover letter along with a DVD of not fewer than 20 and no more than 25 images to: Gallery Review Commit-tee, Gateway Community College, 20 Church St., Room S329, New Haven, CT, 06510. Artists The Tiny Gallery: a very big opportunity for very small art. The Tiny Gallery is a premiere space for “micro” exhibitions in the historic Audubon Arts District, located within the lighted display “totem” outside Creative Arts Workshop, at 80 Audubon St., in New Haven. The Tiny Gallery is open to the public 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Submissions will be considered on a rolling basis and should include a written proposal, artist statement, and images of artwork. Call (203) 562-4927 x. 14, email [email protected], or visit creativeartsworkshop.org/tiny. Artists, Volunteers, and Board Members Seces-sion Cabal, a New Haven-based group of outsider artists working in theater, film, visual art, and other mediums, seeks people for our board, sponsors, volunteers with fundraising experience, and artists working in all mediums who agree with our mis-sion and create radical, brave work. Volunteers/prospective board members/sponsors: please send a brief introduction. Artists: please email a letter of interest/introduction with examples of your bravest work. Visit art-secesion.org for more details and contact information.

Filmmakers The Yale Film Colloquium seeks short film submissions by female filmmakers for its forthcoming Bad Girls season. If you’re a female filmmaker and have made a short film about Bad Girls, please consider submitting it for our special Bad Girls short film night. We’re looking for short fiction, documentaries, experimental films, anima-tions, and music videos about any kind of Bad Girls. If you’d like to submit a short film for consideration then please email [email protected] for more information.

Musicians The New Haven Chamber Orchestra has openings in the violin, viola, and bass sections for the 2015–2016 season. The orchestra rehearses on Tuesday evenings at the Fair Haven School, 164 Grand Ave. Rehearsals begin after Labor Day. To sit in on a rehearsal or to audition, contact the orches-tra via email at [email protected].

Music-Theater Submission Online submissions are being accepted for the 2016 Yale Institute for Musical Theatre. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Mark Brokaw, two original music-theater works will be selected for the 2016 institute’s sum-mer lab, which will take place June 12–26 in New Haven. Online applications are being accepted through January 8, 11:59 p.m. (EST) at drama.yale.edu/YIMT.

Photographers Are you a fan of photography? A program of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven, the Photo Arts Collective aims to cultivate and sup-port a community of individuals who share an in-terest in photography through workshops, lectures, exhibitions, portfolio reviews, group critiques, and special events. The Photo Arts Collective meets the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. at the Kehler Liddell Gallery, 873 Whalley Ave., New Haven. Singers The Greater New Haven Community Cho-rus invites you to join the ensemble. Rehearsals for the group’s spring concert begin January 7 at 7 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 704 Whitney Ave., New Haven. No audition is necessary if you join during the open enrollment period, January 7–21. For more detailed information, visit gnhcc.org or email [email protected].

Singers The award winning Silk’n Sounds Chorus is looking for new members from the area. We invite women to join us at any of our rehearsals to learn more. We enjoy four part a cappella harmony in the barbershop style, lively performances, and won-derful friendships. Rehearsals are every Tuesday, 6:30–9 p.m., at the Spring Glen United Church of Christ, 1825 Whitney Ave., Hamden. Contact Lynn at (203) 623-1276 for more information or visit silknsounds.org.

Singers The New Haven Oratorio Choir invites cho-ral singers (all parts) to audition. We are a chamber ensemble rehearsing weekly (Wednesday nights) at Church of the Redeemer, in New Haven, under the leadership of Daniel Shaw. We perform a varied repertoire of sacred and secular classical music, including contemporary composers, with two main concerts per season (December and May). Our 2015–16 season will include works by Tavener, Gar-diner, and Brahms. An audition consists of meeting with Artistic Director Shaw, doing some general vocalizing and performing a 1–2 minute unaccom-panied selection chosen by the singer. An audition may be scheduled at that time. Visit nhoratorio.org to learn more and follow the link to schedule an audition. Visual Artists Maple and Main Gallery of Art in Chester, Connecticut, seeks artists working in a variety of media for its inaugural juried show. The gallery is housed in an iconic historical building downtown and is in its sixth year of business show-ing the work of Connecticut artists. The exhibition runs January 28-March 13. First prize is a solo show in Maple and Main’s well-appointed Stone Gallery in April. Juror: Robert Norieka. Submission fee: $15 first piece; $10 additional; limit three. Online sub-mission deadline: January 11; in-person receiving dates: January 24 & 25. For more information and to view prospectus, visit mapleandmaingallery.com/juried-show. Volunteers Volunteers are a vital part of Artspace’s operation. Volunteering with Artspace is a great way to support the organization, meet new people, and develop new skills. Our volunteers provide a service that is invaluable to making Artspace func-tion smoothly. We simply couldn’t operate without the tremendous support of our volunteers. To find out more about volunteer opportunities, please contact Shelli Stevens at [email protected].

Creative Services Art Consulting Services Support your creativity! Low-cost service offers in-depth artwork analysis, writing, and editing services by former arts news-paper editor, current art director of the New Haven Free Public Library, and independent curator of many venues. Call Johnes Ruta at (203) 387-4933, visit azothgallery.com, or send email to [email protected]. Art Installation Specialists, LLC An art-handling company serving homeowners, art professionals, offices, galleries, and museums. We offer packing, long-distance or local shipping and installation of paintings, mirrors, plaques, signage, tapestries, and sculpture, as well as framing, pedestals, exhibit design, and conservation. Contact Paul Cofrancesco at (203) 752-8260, Gabriel Da Silva at (203) 982-3050, e-mail: [email protected], or visit artinstallationspecialistsllc.com. Birthday Parties Did you know that Creative Arts Workshop is available for birthday parties? Have your birthday party in an art studio. CAW faculty members will lead the party in arts or crafts proj-ects, lasting approximately 1 1/2 hours, leaving time for cake, presents, and memory-making. Choose from a variety of themes and projects. For more information or to schedule a party, call the office at 562-4927. A fantastic idea for children of all ages. Chair Repair We can fix your worn-out chair seats if they are cane, rush, Danish cord, Shaker tape, or other woven types. Celebrating our 25th year! Work is done by artisans at The Association of Artisans to Cane, a project of Marrakech, Inc., a pri-vate nonprofit organization that provides services for people with disabilities. Open Monday-Thurs-day, 8 a.m.–4 p.m.; Friday 8 a.m.-3 p.m. (203) 776-6310. Creative Events/Crafting Parties Our beautiful light-filled space in East Rock is the perfect spot to host an intimate creative gathering or party. We’ll work with you to provide the programming, snacks, drinks, and decorations that will make your event memorable. Rent our space for up to three hours. thehvncollective.com. Historic Home Restoration Contractor Period appropriate additions, baths, kitchens, and remod-eling. Sagging porches, straightened/leveled, wood windows restored, plaster restored, historic, mold-ing and hardware, Vinyl/aluminum siding removed, wood siding repaired/replaced. Connecticut and New Haven Preservation Trusts. RJ Aley Building Contractor (203) 226-9933. [email protected]. Japanese Shoji Screens Designed for Connecticut homes. Custom built for windows, doorways, or freestanding display, they allow beautiful filtered light to pass through while insulating. For a free quote, contact Phillip Chambers at (203) 888-4937 or email [email protected]. Modern/Contemporary Dance Classes Taught by Annie Sailer. Ongoing, adult, intermediate-level classes. Mondays, 6–7:30 p.m. and Thursdays (time to be announced). New Haven area. Contact Annie for location. Cost: $15 per class. [email protected]. anniesailer.com. Private Art Instruction For adults and children. Learn in a working artist’s studio. Ideal for artists, home-schooled youngsters, and those with special needs. Portfolio preparation offered. Draw, paint, print, and make collage in a spacious light-filled studio at Erector Square in New Haven. Relaxed and professional. I can also come to you. Lessons created to suit individual. References available. Email [email protected].

Professional Art Installation Professional art in-staller for residential and commercial work. More than 17 years’ experience in museums, galleries, hospitals, and homes in New York City, Providence, New Haven, Chester, etc. Rate is $30–$40 an hour, no job too small or large. Contact Mark at (203) 772-4270 or [email protected]. More information and examples at ctartinstall.com. Quartets Deliver Singing Valentines Send a sing-ing valentine to your special someone. Quartets will perform throughout Greater New Haven and along the shoreline. They will travel to offices, homes, nursing facilities, restaurants, singing to spouses, loved ones, and friends. All day. Starting at $35. 203-314-8661. silknsounds.org. Web Services Startup business solutions. Creative, sleek Web design by art curator for art, design, architectural, and small-business sites. Twenty-five years’ experience in database, logistics, and en-gineering applications. Will create and maintain any kind of website. Hosting provided. Call (203) 387-4933, visit azothgallery.com, or send email to [email protected]. Writing Workshops The Company of Writers is a new creative community for writers of all ages and levels of experience. We offer prose and poetry workshops, in-person and online services, a sum-mer writers’ conference for teens, and a manuscript consultancy for book-length material. All our fac-ulty are published authors, and many are teachers, editors, or publishers. Course descriptions available online at companyofwriters.net, or by contacting Terry at (203) 676-7133. We all have a story to tell. What’s yours?

Space Artist Studio West Cove Studio and Gallery offers work space with two large Charles Brand intaglio etch-ing presses, lithography press, and stainless-steel work station. Workshops and technical support available. Ample display area for shows. Membership: $75 per month. 30 Elm St., West Haven. Call (609) 638-8501 or visit westcovestudio.org. Community Living Space Rocky Corner, the first cohousing community in Connecticut, is seeking new members. It’ll be built on 33 acres in Bethany, near New Haven, will feature 30 homes (including 13 affordable ones), a 4,500-square-foot common house with workshop/kitchen/etc., and an organic farm. Visit rockycorner.org or email [email protected] to learn more. Live/Work Space ArLoW (Arts Lofts West). Fab-ulous lofts in New Haven’s first artist-housing development. The units contain high ceilings with flexible options for living and working spaces. Great natural light and interior spaces. Please contact Lynn Calabrese c/o Wm. M. Hotchkiss, manage-ment agent, at (203) 772-3200 x. 20 for a rental application.

Studio Space Thirteen-thousand square feet of undeveloped studio space available in old mill brick building on New Haven harbor. Conveniently located one minute off I-95, Exit 44 in West Haven. Owners willing to subdivide. Call 609-638-8501.

BULLETIN BOARD

JobsPlease visit newhavenarts.org for up-to-date local employment opportunities in the arts.



The Arts Paper

by stephen grant

eaving New Haven, the greatest small city in the world for São Paulo, the 13th-largest city in the world, was a huge change. I went from New Haven’s unique goth-ic-themed center to a city engulfed in tall office and apartment buildings that predominantly look the same.

São Paulo certainly has its own special beauty in the form of public parks, museums, chapels, and the city’s infatuation with vertical gardens. And although the buildings may seem all too familiar, it is what’s written on the walls that makes São Paulo a metropolitan treasure.

São Paulo is home to hundreds if not thousands of street artists and when the city decided to abolish billboard ads, local officials turned to street artists to paint the town. Nearly every corner, whether in a favela or an affluent neighborhood, has a striking image that often confronts the issues of the city or just invites one to stop and stare.

When I moved to the city a year ago from New Haven, this form of public art became my north star when I was lost, my muse for photographs and an artsy look into the minds of Brazilians. My favorite image I encountered is a mural by inter-nationally known artist Eduardo Kobra called Welcome to Real Brazil. The colorful image, created during the 2014 World Cup, addresses the issue of poverty and is perfectly located on a main avenue where there is heavy tourism traffic. When talking about the mural with me for an interview for Brasil Wire, Kobra said one of his goals was to show a side of Brazil that is scream-ing for help.

Social commentary is a major part of street-art culture, but not always the subject for creators. Artists like Os Gemeos, Onesto (Alex Hornest), and Paulo Ito create images that rival work that could easily be found in contemporary art galleries or on comic-book covers. It’s not all about the boys either. Women street artists like Nina Pandolfo and Mag Magrela are also add-ing to the conversation.

But the real beauty of street-art culture in São Paulo is how much the city appreciates it. São Paulo was one of the first cit-ies to create an open-air museum that stretches for miles down several avenues, transforming highways and sidewalks into col-orful scenes. This appreciation for public art makes art accessi-ble to everyone and is a great reminder to look up at the world around you or to wake up to the issues that are still at hand. n

Stephen Grant is a former Arts Council staff member. Visit him online at stephenjgrant.com.

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Mag Magrela’s Entre cacos e cortes, a dor de se redimir, in Vila Madalena, São Paulo, Brazil. The title of this piece translates as “between pieces and cuts, the pain to redeem himself,” a fancy way of saying “broken into pieces.” Photo by Stephen Grant.

Eduardo Kobra’s Welcome to Real Brazil, in Jardim Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil, address issues of poverty in the city and was created during the World Cup as a reminder to tourists that there is a part of Brazil that is screaming for help. Photo by Stephen Grant.


member organizations & partners

The Arts Paper

Arts & Cultural Organizations

1253 Whitney1253whitney.com

A Broken Umbrella Theatre abrokenumbrella.org203-868-0428

ACES Educational Center for the Artsaces.k12.ct.us

Alyla Suzuki Early Childhood Music Educationalylasuzuki.com203-239-6026

American Guild of Organistssacredmusicct.org

Another Octave - CT Women’s Chorus

anotheroctave.org

ARTFARMart-farm.org

Arts Center Killingworthartscenterkillingworth.org860-663-5593

Arts for Learning Connecticutwww.aflct.org

Artspaceartspacenh.org203-772-2709

Artsplace: Cheshire Performing & Fine Artcpfa-artsplace.org203-272-2787

Ball & Socket Artsballandsocket.org

Bethesda Music Seriesbethesdanewhaven.org203-787-2346

Blackfriars Repertory Theatreblackfriarsrep.com

Branford Folk Music Societyfolknotes.org/branfordfolk

Center for Independent Studycistudy.homestead.com

Chestnut Hill Concertschestnuthillconcerts.org203-245-5736

The Choirs of Trinity Church on the Greentrinitynewhaven.org

City Gallerycity-gallery.org203-782-2489

Classical Contemporary Ballet Theatre

ccbtballettheatre.org

Connecticut Dance Alliancectdanceall.com

Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorusctgmc.org1-800-644-cgmc

Connecticut Natural Science Illustratorsctnsi.com203-934-0878

Creative Arts Workshopcreativeartsworkshop.org203-562-4927

Creative Concerts203-795-3365

CT Folkctfolk.com

DaSilva Gallerydasilva-gallery.com203-387-2539

Elm Shakespeare Companyelmshakespeare.org203-874-0801

Firehouse 12firehouse12.com203-785-0468

Gallery One CTgalleryonect.com

Greater New Haven Community Chorus

gnhcc.org203-624-1979

Guilford Art Centerguilfordartcenter.org203-453-5947

Guitartown CT Productionsguitartownct.com203-430-6020

Hamden Art Leaguehamdenartleague.com 203-494-2316

Hamden Arts Commissionhamdenartscommission.org

Hillhouse Opera Companyhillhouseoperacompany.org203-464-2683

Hopkins Schoolhopkins.edu

Hugo Kauder Societyhugokauder.org

The Institute Libraryinstitutelibrary.org

International Festival of Arts & Ideas

artidea.org

International Silat Federation of America & Indonesia

isfnewhaven.org

Jazz Havenjazzhaven.org

Kehler Liddell Gallery203-389-9555kehlerliddell.com

Knights of Columbus Museumkofcmuseum.org

Legacy Theatrelegacytheatrect.org

Linda S. Marino Artlindasmarinoart.com

Long Wharf Theatrelongwharf.org203-787-4282

Lyman Center at SCSUwww.lyman.southernct.edu

Madison Art Societymadisonartsociety.blogspot.com860-399-6116

Marrakech, Inc./Association of Artisans to Cane

marrakechinc.org

Mattatuck Museummattatuckmuseum.org

Meet the Artists and Artisansmeettheartistsandartisans.com203-874-5672

Milford Fine Arts Councilmilfordarts.org203-878-6647

Music Havenmusichavenct.org203-215-4574

Musical Folkmusicalfolk.com

Neighborhood Music Schoolneighborhoodmusicschool.org203-624-5189

New Haven Balletnewhavenballet.org203-782-9038

New Haven Choralenewhavenchorale.org203-776-7664

New Haven Free Public Librarynhfpl.org

New Haven Oratorio Choirnhoratorio.org

New Haven Museum newhavenmuseum.org203-562-4183

New Haven Paint and Clay Clubnewhavenpaintandclayclub.org203-288-6590

New Haven Symphony Orchestranewhavensymphony.org203-865-0831

New Haven Theater Companynewhaventheatercompany.com

One True Paletteonetruepalette.com

Orchestra New Englandorchestranewengland.org203-777-4690

Pantochino Productionspantochino.com

Paul Mellon Arts Centerchoate.edu/artscenter

Reynolds Fine Artreynoldsfineart.com

Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, New Haven Branchnhrscds.org

Shoreline Arts Alliance shorelinearts.org203-453-3890

Shubert Theatershubert.com203-562-5666

Silk n’ Soundssilknsounds.org

Silk Road Art Gallerysilkroadartnewhaven.com

Susan Powell Fine Artsusanpowellfineart.com203-318-0616

The Bird Nest Gallerythebirdnestsalon.com

The Company of Writerscompanyofwriters.net203-676-7133

The Second Movementsecondmovementseries.org

Theater Department at SCSU/Crescent Players

southernct.edu/theater

University Glee Club of New Havenuniversitygleeclub.org

Vintanthromodern vintanthromodernvintage.com

Wesleyan University Center for the Artswesleyan.edu/cfa

West Cove Studio & Gallerywestcovestudio.com 609-638-8501

Whitney Arts Center203-773-3033

Whitney Humanities Centeryale.edu/whc

Yale Cabaretyalecabaret.org203-432-1566

Yale Center for British Artyale.edu/ycba

Yale Institute of Sacred Musicyale.edu.ism203-432-5180

Yale Repertory Theatreyalerep.org203-432-1234

Yale School of Musicmusic.yale.edu203-432-1965

Yale University Art Gallerywww.artgallery.yale.edu

Yale University Bandsyale.edu/yaleband203-432-4111

Creative Businesses

Access Audio-Visual Systemsaccessaudiovisual.com203-287-1907

Blue Plate Radioblueplateradio.com203-500-0700

Foundry Music Companywww.foundrymusicco.com

Hull’s Art Supply and Framinghullsnewhaven.com203-865-4855

Toad’s Placetoadsplace.com

Community Partners

Department of Arts Culture & Tourism, City of New Havencityofnewhaven.com203-946-8378

DECD/CT Office of the Artscultureandtourism.org860-256-2800

Fractured Atlasfracturedatlas.org

JCC of Greater New Havenjccnh.org

The Amistad Committeectfreedomtrail.org

Town Green Special Services District

infonewhaven.com

Visit New Havenvisitnewhaven.com


arts council programs

The Arts Paper

Perspectives … The Gallery at Whitney CenterLocation: 200 Leeder Hill Drive, South Entrance, HamdenHours: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4-7 p.m., and Saturdays, 1-4 p.m.

Traduzindo Cor Curated by Debbie Hesse and Jose Monteiro

Artists from Cape Verde and New Haven present work that, using colors, patterns, and textures, represents a universal language. Dates: January 16-April 29 Opening reception: Saturday, January 16, 3-5 p.m., with artist talks from 2-3 p.m.

Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery Location: The Arts Council of Greater New Haven, 70 Audubon St., 2nd Floor, New HavenHours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Jazz: An Exhibition of Poetry, Prints, and PhotographyCurated by Shaunda Holloway and Debbie Hesse

This exhibition explores thoughts and emotions relating to the musical genre. Each image and or poem is a unique sensory response from the artist. Dates: January 13-March 4 Opening reception (open to the public): Thursday, January 21, 5-7 p.m. Vocalist, Yolanda Coggins will perform and several poets will read from their work.

Advice from the ACNeed help finding exhibition space/opportunities, performance/rehearsal space, or developing new ways to promote your work or creative event? Schedule a free one-on-one consultation by calling (203) 772-2788. Dates: Please check our website and social pages for more information on January and February advice sessions.

Arts ON AIR Listen to the Arts Council’s Arts ON AIR Broadcast every third Monday of the month during WPKN’s Community Programming Hour. Hosted by the Arts Council’s communications manager, Arts ON AIR engages in conversations with local artists and arts organizations. Links to past episodes are available on our blog at artnhv.com/on-air.

Writers Circle Please visit newhavenarts.org and the Arts Council’s social pages for information about the Writers Circle. To be added to the Writers Circle email list, please send a message to [email protected]. Dates: The Writers Circle plans to meet on Thursday, February 18, 5:30-7 p.m. Location: TBD

Photo Arts CollectiveThe Photo Arts Collective is an Arts Council program that aims to

cultivate and support a community of individuals who share an

interest in photography, through workshops, lectures, exhibitions,

portfolio reviews, group critiques, and events. The Photo Arts

Collective meets the first Thursday of the month at the Kehler Liddell

Gallery, 873 Whitney Ave., New Haven, at 7 p.m. To learn more, send

email to [email protected].

Arts Council Seeks Proposals for Community-Engagement Projects The Arts Council is pleased to announce the third round of support

for creative community-engagement projects. Artists and arts

organizations are invited to submit proposals for projects that

actively engage community members in the creative process. We

believe that participatory art-making experiences can have a

profound impact on our community. They can enrich the quality of

community life, enhance the lives of individuals, and build

connections between people. Small project stipends of $1,000 to

$2,000 will be given to selected projects.

Dates: Deadline for proposals is January 15. For details, visit newhavenarts.org/seeking-community- engagement-through-art-proposals.

For more information on these events and more visit newhavenarts.org or check out our mobile events calendar using the Arts, Nightlife, Dining & Information (ANDI) app for smartphones.

Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery. Shaunda Holloway.

Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery.

Harlem Held MeBy Frederick-Douglass Knowles II In the Roaring 20s,the boys were direto Cash a kiss on the lipsof the cute, caramel, young galcloaked in the cinnamon cloche.My silky soothe Creole soul,soaked in BessieSmithBluessolely for the The Dukesippin’ Hooch ’til the Heatcame & closed the Joint.No Depressionever depressed me in the 30s.Harlem held me.Lenox Ave. lit uplike St. Nick’s rosy red tipsidekick on the eve of the 25th.I was Butter and Egg Flystandin’ on the corner of 1-2-5 catchin’ cold, to catch a cabto catch Cab CallowayJitterbuggin’ up & downthe band stand.Every day was Billie’s Holidaywhen she sashayed the stage“God Bless the Child”who held her own.Rent-Parties in the 40spacked Alabama bad-boysyour granddaddy:)fresh off the docksdecked in “Dress Whites”“Dixie Cup” capsand “Black Oxfords”spit-shined brightlike Harlem moonlight.Dizz was neverDizzy Wit a Damegettin’ busyon the B chord,balloonin’ his cheeksto the offbeat …“Salt Peanuts,Salt Peanuts,”Lindy Hoppin’to what the old geezersdeemed the “devil’s music.”Ella was an angel.Bird flew amongst mountaintops.Miles played marathons.Count was infinite.Mecca.From 110th to 155thHarlem held me like a babybaptized in the Dream Boogie Blues,nestled in her nocturne’til daylight subsidedto “The boogie-woogie rumbleof a dream (never) deferred.”

Barbara Marks’ No. 7, Casetta Suite. Perspectives... The Gallery at Whitney Center.

Mark Murphy III’s Michelle. Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery.

Steve Prince’s The Gospel Lesson.Sumner McKnight Crosby Jr. Gallery.

the arts paper

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